123251 AR Literature Course - Literature 1/2 (MA) British/Irish/New English & American/North American Studies (2017W)

Oscar Wilde argued that “Nature is no great mother who has borne us. She is our creation. It is in our brain that she quickens to life. Things are because we see them, and what we see, and how we see it, depends on the Arts that have influenced us.”

In this class, we will investigate cultural ideas of nature in literary works of fiction and creative non-fiction. In the process, we will both try to deepen our understanding of how these texts work as literature, and to understand the cultural contingency of nature, the environment, and humanity's relationship to them.
We will read the three books listed below together, and students will give brief presentations on other texts relevant to the discussion.